Education System Faces Breakdown Without Federal Aid
KONVITZ, MILTON R.
Education System Faces Breakdown Without Federal Aid Low Salaries Kee Positions Vtrtaht, Negroes Suffer Most By Milton R. Konvitz WHEN Justice Black was a United States Senator be attempted. 1 *b...
...he added...
...And this was done in 1931 in the sdmiaistration of the weak and uadinterning Mayor Walker, in the face of a corrupted police force, in unite of a bumbling aad ineffective District Attorney like Judge Crain...
...the-little fellow shouted...
...The bill area reported favorably by a sub-committee of the Cornnjittce ou Education and Labor, after three-day hearings last April, and it looked as if the bill would be passed...
...Now this, dear sirs and brothers, I submit is pure and undiluted hokum...
...out of the cutters' local whlvt he had mmnttated himself, way back in 1931, before Dewey wu elected tA* tnet Attorney...
...Compare this figure with tbe average pay of Federal government employees, which is over $1.900 and with the average pay of employees in manufacturing industries, which is over $2,000...
...And the States least able to pay for education have the most children to be educated—"the rich get richer and the poor hsve children...
...I climbed into his car and we drove 7 miles to Whtje Plains and a mile more to a little grocery shop in the outskirts...
...I had been dining late in New York, and discoursing, as I frequently did, about.the decline of the sympathetic virtues in our rushed and jammed, machine-age way of life...
...Milton R. Konviu...
...wiry did he leave tbe Job to another Ototikt Astern**, WOhan OTHryer, toset She goads «n the hatter onto maiiii Mm to the electric chair* For those who are *e*aa*ntetl with tint fset* of the Amalgamated else nap of the racketeer*, tbe intent of the present smear «*aa**ign hi a* clear a* He hnprmntione as* serious for steers...
...A Christmas Tale It Happened One Night By MAX EASTMAN WHAT I am going to tell you is accurately true, and you will have to believe me, for that is the whole point of it...
...Bat is it possible that oaee Lepke ware fait within the shadow af the elect rv chair he might fee persuaded U talk even if he had as thing to say...
...It also provides that these Jhn Crow Stages, shall not reduce the proportion of State and local monies expended for the education of the Negro...
...Now Pegler ia ready to throw the grand smear...
...Even our own crowd, as hrvely a bunch of cynics ss ever put their feet on the ssme bar rail with labor men, are convinced that there must be »:mething in what Pegler says...
...Why...
...We'll leave the car here, and you'd better beat it home to bed...
...This Rosen was murdered...
...the nature of which was apparent to all concerned, but pro-pone/its of the bill could do nothing- to thwart tha...
...Can ft he possmie than in order to promote his own prenhtentml nnfbtthms T^ewny would offer s deal to that mm ihsiua* baa*, s deal of s reprieve from the electric eharr m euhaim for stOrtos which will be obvioealy false aad slanderous * If that were the case, tbe Federal authorities would not msroiy be suckers to shfJOer Lepke to Dewey: they would be Oerslkn in thstr duty They would Veonve parties to * cheap and ignOWe frameop...
...The Federal authorities delivered Lepl:e to the District Attorney for trial on fhe murder charge, and when tbe trial was over took possession of their prisoner once more...
...This is going to cost me a morning's work and a hotel bill, aj well as repairs...
...The conniving, double-dealing and scheming are strictly on the other side of the street...
...We can use this if we double it enough times," he said...
...let me testify that it xoquare* tiier-pf persona...
...She had been teaching a class in Russian history, and explained that Kerensky was one of the early leaders of the Bolshevik Revolution, later replaced by Lenin...
...As ! took my wallet to pay him, I said forlornly: \ ; * * "Is there a cheap faoieJer tourist earrrp anyOffaere around here...
...He, I think, alt of him hut those bristling mas- ¦ taenia*, was tired...
...The "Werid-Telegram" ran wHtoriatf ia praise of Htllmsn for this coarageaaa aad forthright job...
...For the past month, newspapermen nave known...
...he said as he untied the rope...
...The Sraafe avtne' there is nothing to hide and that nothing has been hmtaer The truth is that Lepke teas kicked out of the aasalga-mated...
...The notion that some people in this country arbitrarily refuse to pay for proper education, and that they are responsible for the poor, showing in some States, is without foundation...
...o In tlie course of Lepke*s munderous career he had an argument wnth one Joseph Rosen, at one time a scab trucking contractor, but later reduced by Lepke to the state of a lowly candy store keeper...
...At that time Lepke vat at the hrighn cf hit power and was able to terrorize and intimidate ang op ponent...
...Can it he pemsibie that the pare and noble Governor would Hire to get hold of tbe smngoter in order to make a dicker wish him far snsnsr stortes against Roosevelt partisans...
...Governor Dewey is now clamoring that Lepke be "pardoned" by President Roosevelt and delivered to a New York State jail...
...he answered...
...the yeaag fellow snapped, "why, Alexander Kerensky told ael . . ." - A Political Fairy Tale The Story of Lepke, Pegler, and Dewey By J. C. RICH f EPKE BUCHALTER is a thug and killer and Dewey is a knight in shining armor while Roosevelt is That Man full of guile and Attorney General Biddle is nothing but a janissary or myrmidon in the royal court of tbe unspeakable New Deal...
...Hilhaan fought the Lepke outfit jto a standstill, klrited" out \he of finals oi the cutters' local who were stringing along with Lepke, threw out a local of truck drivers which was rotter with racketeering, called s strike agVns...
...Negroes there constitute about 3C per cent of the population, but they receive only ieWper cent of the public fund* spent on education...
...Do you know anything about engines...
...The opening barrage has started...
...he said...
...In other terms, it means that about ' J.eOo.OoO school children are without teachers and have to doable up...
...As far back aa 1929 President Hoover's National Advisory Council on Education urged Federal aid to- education...
...does not always see eye to eye with Hillman...
...Sokoisky chimes in on the frogs' chorus...
...The most conservative estimate presented'at the hearings show that not leu than 76,000 teaching positions wUl be vacant next school year unlet* school* receive ftnonamlaid to enable them to raise the salaries' of teacher...
...at least 10,000 teachers are bring paid lest than $300 annually...
...1 *b get Federal aid to StatesVi financing education but did not succeed...
...He looked around at the empty landscape...
...omj*Tdyer* »W ••»••-••: under Lepke's protecti.n...
...While eight States spend more thaa $100 per pupil, ten States spend less thsn $50...
...The States in which the turnover is greatest pay the lowest salaries to teachers and...
...Many of the States cannot do very", much to improve this situation, mainly for the reason that, their financial ability is seriously embarrassed by the necessary expansion of Federal taxation...
...I said—and it wasn't an oath...
...to block his candidacy, imagine to what lengths they will go to smear Roosevelt, the New Deal, and labor...
...intentions of the' reactionary defenders of civil liberties...
...Have you got a chain or a rope...
...A muscular, dark-skinned man of south European extraction got out...
...I was badly broke at the time, and worried about what all this was "going to' cost...
...Some of the States cannot afford to engage adequately qualified teachers and principals, nor to provide proper buildings...
...If you will take the pains to unscrable a Pegler column, separating the innuendo from the straight story, if any...
...The American Youth Commission, headed by Owen D. Young, in 1938" also supported this move...
...We have no time for loving-kindness,-" I had said...
...Among the recommendations in the PostTWar Plan and Program of the National Resources Planning Board, which the President submitted to Congress, was one that called for Federal assistance to States in financing adequate public school programs...
...Separate schools are maintained in 17 States and the District of "Columbia...
...It was the first time I ever heard an engine quack like a duck, and I pulled up on the grass and got out...
...In 1940 the estimated income payments per person, 20 to 64 yesrs of age, ranged from $379 in Mississippi to over $1,500 in Nevsda, while for the Nation ss s whole it was close to $1,000...
...About 39,000 teachers joined the armed forces...
...Why -did he tail to a*a**s*t* Oh* Amalgamated on racketeering change* if isnksaaai mg was practiced as his J cam* I antic hatchet men try to toner...
...Ther^athss^iajb tbe-*ou>.of ajsatlier well-know journalist here (on close tenM with many of' the-refugees) had a little session with bis high-school teacher...
...I told him I lived in Croton, and expressed my vexation that there was no way of getting there by train from White Plains...
...Bat let Dewey beware...
...I said...
...I hope to God I would...
...Yet the unctuous Mr...
...associate counsel of the NAACP snd Professor of Law st New York University Law School who covers the civil liberties front for The New Leader, tell* the story here...
...Classroom Crisis We sre rapidly approaching 's crisis in the classroom...
...But it isn't what the sweet wise-'guys on our side of the block imagine it is...
...Dewey, new Governor was pi sal te accept fhe Labs* Party nomination foe District Attorney fas lag* from the has is of Mr...
...On my way home to Croton, 40 miles sway„ my old Ford engine slowed up suddenly and began to quack like a duck...
...Senator Hill of Alabama was co-spdhaar 'of-the- bill, and most Southern Senators were for it...
...I heard a sparrow chirp: I looked ah my watch...
...Who told went...
...Dewey T Pegler himself gives the game away when he states that if Dewey got hold of the convict he might make hiss tell all in return for an offer of clemency...
...hsve the least taxing khftty,to support schools...
...This is a pretty nasty insinuation and people who have some respect for the President of the United States ought to hesitate a bit before they permit a Pegler to plant it in their minds...
...Hllhnan, the awry nanus Hii> As District Attorney...
...And using every shyster trick to evade the Itbei laws, the columneers aiding Mr Dewey's altogether slim.' political maneuver, plant in the minds of the public .the idea that there is something rotten in the state el the New Deal...
...Their stunt was a shameies° piece of hypo- • criay...
...If you throw eneogh mud some of it «•!' stick—where there is so much smoke there must be some fire—the public reacts in'terms of these old chestnuts...
...ss Milton R. * Kon vit s reveals here, a short -sge of about 75,000 teachers • near' the' eeadtry...
...But about M Republicans and 12 Democrats were sgsinst . It They were led by Senator Taft Acting under the cloak of protecting the Negro, they got Senatori-anger to offer sn amendment to provide that the States shall be required to apportion their own funds equally among the rsces...
...That would be foolish...
...1 said...
...The details of the story are -worthy of note...
...The way the guarantees would operate may be illustrated by considering Louisiana...
...Mississippi spends less than one-fifth per pupil of the amount spent in New York per pupil...
...theJbjU despite these provisions...
...If these figures did not appear in an official Federal government report.they would be unbelievable...
...indeed, did be fail to taetoe Lepke himself...
...Well have to go and get it...
...For Once many Southern Senators and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People supported the same measure...
...snd smg say taae that migat-asead sweet to Republican ears...
...I gazed at him in blank amazement...
...He started the engine, listened te about three of those quacks, and then turned the key quickly and got out "We can't fix it...
...I must have something in the store...
...A - a iebor man wit...
...And now how much do I owe you...
...This the G-Men...
...I guess you'd help me out if I was in trouble, wouldn't you...
...Big is interested because he wants to return a service to one of his minions, the New Dealing "unioneer" Hillman, and Hill-man is interested in keeping Buchalter alive because he is more afraid of him dead than alive—or something...
...Peg of Old Oewery THHERE sre libersts and lsbor men who hsTe said, "Pegler is s damned * so-and-so, but you hsve to admit he has helped to put several labor racketeers behind the bars...
...But Senators I-anger...
...His'e*yes gleamed and he wore fierce mustachios...
...Pegler will be right on the job...
...I haven't got a thing...
...S; 637 guarantees to the Negroes in these States sn * amount of funds in proportion to the number of Negroes in the total population of the State...
...he said...
...I wonder whether all the bright scholars gat the implications of this bit of argasaeat If Dewey gat hold of the convicted Lepke and promised him a reprieve...
...When do you want this Lepke delivered for execution...
...The reasedy for this is obvious: federal aid to education...
...Dewey's office has been "feeding" stories about Lepke Bnchatter to various favored pets...
...liberal circles...
...Why," she asked, "how do you know all that...
...He unlocked a side door, switched on a light, and began rummaging under the counters for a rope: Finally he took'down two coils of new clothesline from the shelves...
...As sn editorial in 'The Crisis" puts it: "politicians win, edaCcoop:—History is a pretty intimate affair these days, with young %*''e\%w!ileans you lenow making foreign* headlines, and many of Rurope's greats moving freely here in U.S...
...He stay he throwing a beeeaeraag instead of fast mad...
...The teacher stood aghast .at the performance...
...The average annual salary of all rurajl teachers: it $900...
...Under the Pedar*>lifll -Negro would receive 36 per cent of the Federal allotment and the State would not be permitted to reduce its own contributions...
...THE Senate committee found that 40 but o/~every 100 teachers *f are being paid leu than $1,200 aantiaffy, and 8 in every 100 ars being paid leu than $600...
...Naturally, the States with the lowest income psy the lesst for the education of its children...
...In addition the bill appropriated $100,000,000 annually to enable States to reduce inequalities of educational opportunities...
...It occurred to m: that he might conceivably tow me the whole 25 miles to Croton, but I didn't come out with it for fear he would think I «vas rich...
...I'm not in the taxi business...
...Lepke might be tempted to shag, and tha to* sinuation is that be has anatetbjag te agues I, nmae-' thing which weald discredit Hillman aad the BsssensH people...
...Such pleas are always made by counsel and hot by the prisoner in person...
...Although, aa noted, the need for such a program has been felt for a long time, the need has become acute during the war...
...Pegler who ases the Telly for his mother hen ought at least get together with his ewa paper safer* ' he deposits the racketeering dear knob, for aa egg...
...are simple enough...
...Yes, there is...
...TPH1S was a put-up-or-shut-up sort of offer, but Governor Dewey, all liis brisk and rosy righteousness, neither put up nor shut up...
...Then came Prince Lvov, and Miluikov, Then came the Smolny Palace incident And then -came Kerensky...
...the liberal Willkie...
...It was 2 A. M., and there wasn't a building in sight I stepped into the road and signalled the first car that came by...
...Does it mean a lot to you to be in Qrvton tomorrow morning...
...Niggardly sums spent oa OdncsSlon have driven'many teachers rnt* « sr jobs where psy is higher;-capable students have preferred other professions thsn teaching...
...Republican of North Dakota, and Taft...
...During tha aehoel year 1942-43 there were over • 189,000 public school teachers new to their positions, as contrasted with a turnover in normal veer* of 93,000...
...Official spokesmen of these 17 States are on record as favoring...
...Do yos imsgiae thst Lepke, facing certain eseeetlea...
...Just step into the plush chambers where Governor Dewey resides in rosy righteousness and learn the facts of life...
...and if the situation had been reversed, he would certainly have been a bandit...
...Yet he was tossed out on his ear, and the anon who kicked him out was Sidney Hillman...
...This Presiihsnt Roosevelt has failed to do and the implication, if you read Pegler regularly, or if Dewey's animadversions make any sense, is that F.oosevelt is shielding the gangster out of loyalty to the "unioneers" who support him...
...Yet perhaps this will clear their minds a bit: Attorney General Francis Biddle challenged Dewey and said...
...fWriy, no...
...If Pef-of-old-Devery confined his diatribes to those few cooks who hare muscled into the labor movement, he might be doing a service—but he exploits and distorts facts, half-truths, and downright lies to smear honest progressive trade unionists—indeed, the very heart of Peglerism is slandering trade unionism...
...Jesus...
...Whs...
...he said with surprise...
...courage fo stand.up to the murderous gor^lls and tell him and all his associates to go to sveH...
...Dewey sighs how snd it is that Lepke is kept out of his grasp, and the acidulous Mr...
...This year Senator Thomas of Utah introduced S. 637, a bill calling for an appropriation of $300,000,000 to assist State* in more adequately financing their system* of pubrV education and 1 in (educing the inequalities of educational opportunities...
...It's too bad you didn't say so, because bow- well have to untie these ears to turn them around," he said It took us a good fifteen minutes to turn them around, and our progress up-and-down-hill to Croton ? was exceedingly slow.' When we got there I stopped him by a garage in the center of the village...
...Dewey snu in positxm t» gather all the racketeering evidence about Hifaaan and ****r labor supporter* of F.aVR...
...The trick s ssbsjL and the bill was killed—in the name of civil liberties, with the true friends of civil liberties among the victims: Negro groups begged the sponsors ef the amendment to withdraw it...
...he would swear thst his own deer, departed grandmother killed the parson if that would save his neck...
...It had the backing of the NAACP and other Negro groups...
...In the 1944 presidential campaign there is going to be s lot of mud thrown especially if the Republicans nominate a reactionary candidate...
...As I got out of'bis delivery wagon in front, of my house...
...In other words, the people in Mississippi earned about a third of the amount earned oh an average throughout the country (including Mississippi...
...MWaa told ate...
...It stopped promptly and proved to be a small delivery wagon...
...so thai the Wir Bright he passed, but without avail...
...would hesitate to play ap to Dewey's eestsns «* pnoti rsl am hi Mom...
...In order to meet this emergency the bill provided that $200,000,000 be Spent annually to assist the States until the emergency is terminated...
...All the newspapers commended Hillmsn Cor this cleanup...
...Westbrook Pegler, the columneer with chronic ulcers of the typewriter, has been spiking his daily concoction with a lot of this brew of late, and it's pretty heady staff...
...I admitted cautiously that it meant quite a little...
...Lepke "was convicted and senttncid to death for this killing...
...I asked...
...He member, nhat the Sana is under sentence af death...
...If the Republicans are willing to smear even one of their own...
...Bat a group of reactionary senators, jealous of "states rights" have blocked this vital federal aid...
...which by present iass****tos is supposed to oatet...
...Pegler whips up a lather of insinuation on the subject and the torpid Mr...
...ob a narcotics rap for which the gorilla is now serving time in a Federal prison in Nevr York...
...Instead, he said that he really could not determine the date of execution since the convicted criminal might wish to make a plea for clemency...
...i AS might be expected, where there is segregation in education, the Negro gets the short end—this despite the Supreme Court ruling that where there arc separate facilities, they must be equal...
...Republican of Ohio, were unalterably opposed* to the bill, and offered an amendment in the name of civil liberties which led to the defeat of the bill...
...Before Lepke could be tried and sentenced for the murder he had to be caught...
...What did we invent these machines ptjt and then walk up bill...
...Higher salaries in other callings attracted 37,000 teachers...
...You'll have to be towed to White Plains...
...Add a unionecr like Sidney HilLman and what have you ? You have a standard Pegler column, tbe one he runs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays...
...you will find that its kernel of fact consists of the following: Lepke, a murderous thug, was the head of a gang of racketeers who muscled into a number of enterprises, among them several unions in New York, among them the union of the men's clothing cutters, a local of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers headed by Sidney Hillman tv^io, as is well known, is a staunch supporter of President Roosevelt...
...That's not right at all, meTnY'-' First came the February Revolution...
...It was 5:15 A. M. "Well, thank you with all my heart," I said...
...The result is...
...I was just helping you out...
...therefore, this insistence that Lepke be delivered to the State and into the jurisdiction of the noble Mr...
...At the prospect of spending a night in White Plains and loitering around all next day waiting for my ear, or thumbing my way to Croton aad then back, or going around by way of New York, Mart ¦ pretty sad...
...I took out my whilet, and braced myself for > disaster...
...Enough, I guess," -he said with reassuring simplicity, snd climbed into my car...
...The facts...
...1I/E covered the 8 mile* back to my ear in com-pnrative silence...
...Ill walk up the hill to my house...
...We fastened the two cars together, and with a caution to me to steer carefully, he pulled me along at about 15 miles an hour and lodged me finally in the little parking space besvie his store...
...Dewey does not need the person of Lepke Buchhalter in order to hold clemency hearing...
...Just name the day and he wiil be brought to Sing Sing to expiate the murder of Rosen with his own life...
...One slug of this potion and the reader is convinced that Biddle won't deliver the gorilla, Lepke, to justice at the hands of the official executioner of the sovereign State of New York because the Big Boss told him not to...
...Thus two guarantees are contained in the bill affecting the rights of Negroes...
...In 1938, President Roosevelt's Advisory Committee on Education also urged this action...
Vol. 26 • December 1943 • No. 52
